This I Call to Mind

Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3:21-24

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore, I will hope in him.”

In January of 1998, I found myself in Hyderabad, India for the first time. Every morning, Richard Stephens, the trip organizer and leader, would gather his contingent of American volunteer missionaries together outside in front of the hotel where we stayed. He would give us a short briefing on the day’s ministry plans, pray with us, and then lead us in singing “The Steadfast Love of the Lord,” a chorus based on Lamentations 3:22.  

Every time I read through Lamentations, I remember that trip. At the time, I didn’t anticipate it would lead to dozens more trips to India over the next few decades. But friendships developed, ministry opportunities blossomed, and one thing led to the next…

Lamentations is five chapters of almost unrelenting grief expressed. It is what the title of the book calls it – a lot of lamenting.

Except…

Almost right in the middle of this verbal darkness a voice speaking light breaks through. There atop the despairing ruins of a once great nation, a flag of hope is raised.  

Jeremiah didn’t suddenly become a giggly Pollyanna, unaware that the world around him was burning to the ground. These verses don’t end his lament, they interrupt it. This is to say that hope and grief can coexist in the same heart. Joy doesn’t necessarily evict sorrow from the house. They can share the same space and sometimes even sleep in the same bed.

These feelings can live together in our hearts, albeit there is a tension between them, a push and pull. And sorrow often has the upper hand. It can easily dominate. It’s like the guy with the loud voice who never stops talking while hope is the pretty shy girl who quietly waits her turn to say something.

Grief has the advantage of using our physical senses to promote itself. It tells us to look around at all the broken stuff, smell the smoke of the smoldering ashes of all our efforts that were burned to the ground, and feel the pain of every cut.

Hope relies on things less tangible. It relies on us remembering who God is, calling that to mind, and having faith in that. Having hope requires us to believe and trust that God has not stopped loving us, that He hasn’t run out of mercy, and that He is faithful to His children.

Jeremiah’s moment of reprieve from despair comes when he remembers that although it seems that everything is lost, he has the one thing that can never be lost: “The Lord is my portion.”

It is not wrong to grieve and even lament over the losses of this life. At the same time, it is wise to remember that all of those things were going to be lost to us at some point no matter what. It is even more important to call to mind that what you can’t lose, what can never be taken from you, what matters most is that you have the Lord who loves you, who will show you mercy today, and who will always be faithful to you.

“Therefore, hope in him.”